Screen Archive South East at the University of Brighton collects, preserves, catalogues and provides public access to its collection of films and magic lantern slides. The collection charts the rise of screen culture in the region and the nation and captures many aspects of life, work and creativity in the South East from the late 19th century to the present day. It is available for research, screenings, creative re-use and commercial access.
Movement and Meaning 5: A Lesson in Gender
A though-provoking exploration of the way that dance, particularly ballet, promotes and dictates an unrealistic model of femininity and female behaviour
This interesting programme from 1985 uses a ballet class as the backdrop for a wider exploration of gender stereotyping and sexual identity. Young girls in tutus practice various exercises and traditional dance movements. In voice over, the teacher talks about the requirements girls must achieve in order to become professional ballerinas. She also explains how physical differences between boys and girls leads to different sets of requirements. A montage of advertising images follows, showing women dressed as ballerinas to convey a model of femininity. Asked why they want to be ballerinas the children's answers are contrasted by those of the presenter Françoise Sergy, who at one time also aspired to be a ballerina and who, because of weight issues, was rejected by the system at an early age. Claiming that she was made to feel a failure for not keeping her weight under control, Sergy, over time, re-evaluated her experiences as an aspiring ballerina and that of ballet as a dance form. For her, traditional ballet, with its traditions, historical associations and elitism had little to offer with regards to contemporary issues. Switching to modern dance as an alternative, Sergy, explains how dance, and ballet in particular, aims to promote a model of physical, decorous perfection for all women and this underlying ideology both restricts and rejects women who fail to live up to that standard. Françoise Sergy's antidote was to take up self-defence and aikido, enabling her to explore the physicality of her own body without the need to display a prettified image of womanhood. She concludes that the body can be itself and that can be expressed in dance - unlike traditional ballet, which dictates what the body is allowed to do according to its own canonical view. A short animation summarising the presenter's views ends the programme.
A cohesive collection from Screen Archive South East representing the production history of a university production unit from 1977 to 2006.
This collection contains educational programmes created for classroom use as well as programmes and commercial narratives that were made on behalf of local businesses, organisations and the community.
Screen Archive South East has made available from across this collection, a total of eighty four programmes from a variety of obsolete open reel 1-inch tape, U-Matic and Betacam broadcast formats.
This cohesive collection represents the production history of a higher and further education based production unit, with content covering a wide range of subjects: teaching the arts and sciences, fashion shows and art exhibitions, early examples of video art and screen dance from the late 1970s to early 1980; documentaries on Sussex artists and a series of works on the institution’s commemorative and promotional history.
As such, the collection documents a particular regional community and its use of videotape technology over almost a thirty-year period.
The high production values in the work created by Media Services at Brighton Polytechnic later, the University of Brighton, was due to the team of independent film makers or ex-BBC technical and production staff, ensuring top quality programming for the time.
46 videos in this collection
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The Glorious Dream
Moulsecomb
2003
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Chelsea School of Human Movement Promo
Eastbourne
1991
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Chelsea College: Student Memories
1997
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Brighton Polytechnic Promo 2
Brighton
1986
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Altered Image
Brighton
1987
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Movement and Meaning 5: A Lesson in Gender
Eastbourne
1985
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An Interview with Anne Seagrave
Brighton
1986
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Gary Stevens: Audience
Brighton
1989
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The Mad Aunts
1990
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The British Library Bibliographic Services
Greater London
1981
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The Booth Museum of Natural History, Hove
Hove
1990
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The Battle of Lewes Road: Our History
Brighton
1983
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Choosing Hardy presented by Andrew Motion
1994
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An Interview with Raymond Briggs
Brighton
1978
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Pig-in-the-Middle
Brighton
1978
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Interview with Frank Hampson - Creator of Dan Dare